The high frequency of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, and Prevotella nigrescens in subgingival plaque may be associated with periodontal diseases in subjects aged 30 to 49 years

Abstract

A total of 299 subjects (156 males, 143 females, aged 6 to 0689 69 years) were randomly chosen from Meikai University Hospital, Saitama, Japan. To be included, subjects had to have at least 20 teeth, including all first molars. Subjects who smoked were excluded, as were those with aggressive periodontitits, periodontitis as a manifestation of systemic diseases, acute necrotizing periodontal diseases, periodontal or antibiotic therapy in previous 5 months, pregnancy, systemic conditions that could influence periodontal status, or problems arising from residential location. Suspected etiology was the occurrence of periodontal 0689 pathogens ( Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, P nigrescens ) in subgingival plaque collected from the most inflamed site among 4 mesiobuccal sites of first molars. The presence of these pathogens was detected by immunoslot blot assay (IBA). The reactivity of the assay was classified as positive when the intensity of the bacterial sample was ≥1 × 10 6 cells. Pocket depth.0689 The presence of periodontal pathogens in subgingival 0689 plaque did not affect the mean poeket depths in any age group. In other words, there were no differences in the mean pocket depths between sites with positive and negative reactivity to P gingivalis, P intermedia , or P nigrescens . Mean pocket depth increased with increasing age. The frequency of P gingivalis -positive plaque also appeared to increase with increasing age. The percentages of P gingivalis -positive plaque in subjects aged 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, and 60 to 69 were significantly higher than those in subjects aged 20 to 29 ( P < 0.01 ).